“Emissions: A Climate Comedy” at the Ottawa Fringe Festival 2013

Drew Moore and Jennifer Vallance as Adam and Eve in Emissions: A Climate Comedy, photo from Ann Cavlovic

If you’ve never been to the Ottawa Fringe Festival, it’s something to check out. The Fringe, running July 20-30, hosts diverse and unique theatre performances that give artists an opportunity to push artistic boundaries.

I was intrigued to hear about one of this year’s productions, Emissions: A Climate Comedy, on climate change and what shapes our perspectives about it.

Here’s more from Ann Cavlovic, the creator of Emissions:

You’re invited to come see ‘Emissions: A Climate Comedy’ at the Ottawa Fringe Festival!

‘Emissions’ is an intelligent satire about the human dynamics behind climate change that will have you peeing your pants laughing. A modern Adam and Eve deal with anything from international negotiations to the office microwave, exploring what it is that makes human beings piss in our own swimming pool. The show blends clever dialogue with physical comedy and live music by Scott Irving of the PepTides. It’s a gas!

Here’s a bit more about Ann and what inspired her to write Emissions: A Climate Comedy (from the show’s press release):

Ann Cavlovic wrote this play after an environmental activist called her ‘immoral’ for buying a car. ‘There’s a seed of truth in that nasty accusation,’ says Cavlovic. ‘Those fossil fuel emissions will harm my child’s generation the most. Yet I can’t single-handedly save the planet. But does that mean I give up? Or make even more personal sacrifice, when others around me won’t? Or does it mean more political pressure for collective solutions, like better public transit? Or is that just a cop-out?'”

They’re the kind of questions that many of us struggle with, and Ann invites us to consider what it means “to share a planet.”